Google Stadia will be coming to non-Google browsers and devices after launch

Google this week shared more details on Stadia, its upcoming cloud-based gaming platform. The firm took to Reddit for an AMA this week, fielding questions from users who were sold on Stadia or needed more clarification on the platform.

“My dream is to play Stadia on every device out there. At launch we’re starting with the devices we know best, to make sure the experience is great. Hence Chrome, Chromecast and Pixel. Once we harden the tech and it’s ready to scale we’ll expand to more devices starting with the most popular ones,” explained Google’s Stadia product director, Andrey Doronichev, this week. In other words, Google knows these devices inside and out and can optimise the experience for them. Once that’s done, it can expand its focus to other devices. Google’s own Pixel 2 and 2XL series were left out at first, so it is not because of a Google hardware bias.

The firm also shared more tidbits about how Stadia is supposed to work:

• To be clear, Stadia Pro is not “Netflix for Games” like some people have mentioned, a closer comparison would be like Xbox Live Gold or Playstation Plus. The Pro subscribers get 4K/HDR streaming, 5.1 sound, exclusive discounts and access to some free games. Roughly one free game per month give or take.
• Oh yes, achievements… as a lifelong gamer and a pathological overachiever, I love achievements! Of course we’ll have something similar to other platforms. However, it will not be there immediately at launch. Will come a little bit later.
• You’ll see the UI in November, once we launch. For now you have to trust me – it’s looking good. We have a great UX team and we’re putting a lot of love into it.
• No free games on Stadia Base. But hey, Stadia Base gives you free access to the state-of-the-art gaming hardware in our datacenter 😉 You spend your money to buy games you want.
• We’ll get all the basic functionality at launch – play games across screens, no waiting for downloads or patches, social, store, etc. Of course it’s not going to be every feature we announced at our vision announcement at day 1. But that’s the beauty of a cloud platform – it’ll be constantly improving!

You can scan the full AMA on Reddit to get a fuller picture of Google’s plans for Stadia.

Source: R/Stadia